


Snow

by Witches_Pen



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Post-War, Romantic Comedy, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:07:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27888013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Witches_Pen/pseuds/Witches_Pen
Summary: “Draco is like … snow. He can seem harsh and cold at first, but if you show him a little warmth—he melts. Before I found out I was a witch, the closest thing I ever knew to magic was being surrounded by falling snow in the winter. Being with Draco feels like that—like being surrounded by magic.”
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy
Comments: 6
Kudos: 9





	Snow

**Author's Note:**

> Hello AO3 readers! 
> 
> This is the second story I've begun in the past two weeks--I'm in the middle of finals prep so clearly this is my way of coping. 
> 
> This story will be my take on a post war Dramione. It's loosely inspired by "Snow" by Angus and Julia Stone (though the musical ties will be much less prevalent than they are in my other story, Daylight). It'll be set in the Winter of 1999 (so roughly 1.5 years after the battle of Hogwarts) and I'll be hitting that winter scenery pretty hard because it's my favorite season. 
> 
> Here's the required fyi: I'm not JK Rowling and I don't make any money from this. I do save money though, because instead of going to therapy I write fanfiction. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy--leave a comment if you want:)
> 
> xx Witches-Pen

**November 1999:**

Hermione sat at her small, ministry issued desk in her office in the Department for the Regulation and Care of Magical Creatures. The desk was almost comically full, holding up several stacks of parchments that towered over the bushy haired girl as she worked. 

Because Hermione was accustomed to working under stressful situations, most people who walked past her office wouldn’t be likely to notice the small details that gave her away. Like the way her right foot tapped rhythmically— _tip tap tip tap tip tap_ —against the side of her desk. Or the way she brought the end of her quill up to her lip to subtly chew it, as if she’d mistaken it for a sugar quill. 

Theodore Nott, however, was not “most people” who might walk by Hermione’s office door.

“Granger,” he declared his presence, “I can hear your incessant tapping from three doors down. Stop stressing about this preliminary vote, you’ve done all you can, and there’s no use in worrying about it anymore. It’s not to take place for another couple of weeks, anyway, and I, for one, would prefer not to deal with basket-case Granger for that long.” 

The vote which Nott, or Theo as Hermione had come to call him, referred to was the vote that the Wizengamot would be performing in a few weeks on Hermione’s proposed bill, The Elvish Welfare Act of 1999. She’d submitted the final version of the bill this morning, and a vote had been scheduled for 3 weeks’ time. 

Hermione reacted to his sudden presence with a start, before turning to greet him. “Hello, Theo. You could announce yourself next time. You know, how people in polite society do? Maybe I’m a so-called ‘basket case’ because random wizards come into my office at all hours—unannounced no less—to frighten me.” 

Theo brought his hand to his chest in mock shock. “Why Hermione, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were trying to insult me by calling me impolite of all things. It’s a good thing I do know better, and that a good, brave Gryffindor would never do such a thing, or I’d be really hurt.” 

Hermione smiled despite herself. Her relationship with Theo hadn’t always been so friendly, however. Hermione had been surprised—to say the least—when she’d started at the Department for the Care and Regulation of Magical Creatures and found out that Theo would also be working there. She’d never known him well at Hogwarts, but a low-level entry job working with magical creatures didn’t seem like the type of job the son of an aristocratic former death eater was likely to take. As she came to learn, however, a low-level job working with magical creatures was the only kind of job the son of a former death eater could get after the War, despite the fact that Theo hadn’t even fought in it himself. 

Despite Hermione’s initial reservations about working with him, Theo had turned out to be not only competent, but actually talented at what he did. As a matter of fact, though Hermione had thought his Slytherin nature would be a hinderance to her efforts, it was the only reason The Elvish Welfare Act of 1999 had made it past its initial stages. While Hermione’s Gryffindor ideals were great in theory, she came to learn during her first few months at the ministry that you needed more than just good, kind, righteous ideas to get things done in politics. You also, as it turned out, needed some Slytherin cunning, which Theo had been more than happy to provide. 

Their partnership confused a lot of people in the Ministry—and out of it, to be honest. Harry and Ron had been suspicious of Nott’s intentions in partnering with their brainy best friend. But Hermione had grown to know Theo well. She knew he wasn’t nearly as passionate about house elf rights as she was, but he did care about magical creatures, and this job had been his chance at redeeming his name after the War. Despite explaining this, it had still taken Harry and Ron quite a while to begin to come around and accept Theo as a person in Hermione’s life. They had advocated for acceptance and forgiveness after the War, but a Slytherin and a Gryffindor in their circumstances would likely always be initially suspicious of one another. The War had changed a lot of things, but it hadn’t changed _that_ much. 

“Why, Theo, I would never try to hurt your feelings by calling you impolite. If I was going to try to hurt your feelings, you’d know it.” Hermione replied and laughed with him. 

“Ah, there’s that laugh I haven’t seen much of since the last stretch of this bill began.” Theo’s tall lanky frame stepped further into her office, having been haunting the doorway for the majority of their conversation.

“Since we’re finally done with the monster project that was the Elvish Welfare Act, I would like to invite you out tomorrow evening. It’s my birthday—” Theo waved Hermione off as she began to interrupt to wish him a happy birthday and ask why she hadn’t known about it, “—none of that, I don’t make much of it most years, but some of my friends need a reason to get together and let loose so I thought it would be a good excuse. And I’d like you to come. You could certainly use the break.” 

Hermione considered her friend’s proposition. He was probably right. She hadn’t done much in the way of social gatherings since they’d hit the home stretch of finishing the Act. She sighed in resignation, “Yes alright, I’ll come—but only because it’s your birthday.” 

“Wonderful!” Theo clapped his hands together as he said it. Turning to leave he said, “Oh, and feel free to bring your sidekicks—Potter and Weasley.” With a quick wink, he left.

Hermione sighed as she turned back to her work after Theo left. Now that they’d finished drafting the Elfish Welfare Act most of her work was basic pencil pushing that she found completely lifeless and unrewarding. She checked the clock on her wall to find it was past six in the evening. She resigned herself to being unable to do any more busywork for the night and gathered her things. She left her office and made her way to the main atrium of the Ministry, where she would floo home. 

When Hermione stepped out of the floo and into her small, but comfortable, Diagon Alley flat she was immediately greeted with the angry meows of her fluffy ginger cat, Crookshanks. Crookshanks wound his way around his mistress’s legs in a sort of figure eight motion, still meowing up at her. 

“I know, Crooks, I know.” Hermione set down her work bag and made her way across her living room and into the kitchen to get Crookshanks’ dinner out. After she’d fed Crookshanks, Hermione made her way back into her living room to floo Harry and Ron and invite them to Theo’s party. She wasn’t sure whether they’d come or not. Sure, they’d eventually gotten over their initial reservations about Hermione’s work with Theo, but the boys were hardly friends with their former Slytherin rival. 

With the toss of a bit of floo powder and a call of “Grimmauld Place!” Hermione put her head into the fireplace and was soon looking into Harry’s living room. Hermione called for her friend when the quiet “whoosh” sound didn’t gain his attention. As she waited for Harry to come to the fireplace, she looked around the living room of Grimmauld Place. Harry had really spruced the place up since they’d stayed there during their fifth year at Hogwarts, and again when they were hunting horcruxes. The fine layer of dust that had settled in the place was long gone, as was the boggart that Mrs. Weasley had battled in the room. Now, the once dark walls were painted a bright and inviting off-white, and the large windows which looked out over the street were dressed in lovely suede light grey-blue curtains. A matching grey-blue couch sat facing the fireplace in which Hermione waited. 

“Hermione?” Harry inquired as he turned the corner from the hallway into the drawing room to greet Hermione. 

“Yes, it’s me. Hi Harry”

“What’s up? Are you calling from home? You’re home early for a weekday.” Harry settled in front of the fireplace to speak to his best friend. 

“Oh, well, we submitted the The Elvish Welfare Act to the Wizengamot today so there wasn’t quite as much to get done and I was able to get home by six-thirty. Crooks was certainly happy to be getting his dinner early.”

“Wow! Congratulations, Hermione! I didn’t realize you were done with it! You worked really hard on that; you should be proud of yourself.” Harry lit up at Hermione’s news. “Maybe you and me and Ron can do something together soon now that you’ve got a bit more free time? We haven’t seen you much the past month.” 

“Thanks Harry, and yes actually that’s why I was flooing. Look, Theo invited me to his birthday party tomorrow evening, and he said I should invite you and Ron. I know you three aren’t the best of friends, but I’d love to see you and it will be at the Leaky Cauldon so you two can get sloshed if you need a little extra help to cope with fraternizing with Slytherins.” Hermione laughed as she ended. 

“Well ‘Mione, you know I’m okay to socialize with the Slytherins but it’s Ron you’ve got to worry about. He can’t always keep that temper of his in check.” Harry rubbed the back of his neck as he contemplated the situation. 

“I know, Harry, but I think between the two of us we’ll be able to distract him enough if anything happens. Besides, it’s just Theo and probably a couple of other people. Maybe Blaise and Daphne, I think he still talks to them regularly.” 

“Well alright, I’ll talk to him when he gets home.” Harry agreed. 

“He’s not home yet? Don’t you guys usually get home around five-thirty on days you’re not on a mission?” Hermione questioned the irregularity of Ron’s absence from Grimmauld Place. He’d lived there with Harry since shortly after they’d won the battle of Hogwarts a year and a half ago. 

Harry looked uncomfortable and began rubbing the back of his neck before he answered her. “Oh we did get home earlier but … well, Ron had a date tonight.” He shifted in his place as he spoke. 

Hermione’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. “Oh!” She exclaimed, also a bit uncomfortable, “well, er, good for him.” She finished her sentence awkwardly. 

Ron and Hermione’s failed attempt at a romantic relationship had been a bit of an awkward subject between the three of them. Most of the time they all pretended it never happened. It had only gone on for about a month after the battle before the two friends had realized that’s exactly what they were—friends—and that anything more felt like forcing it. The mutuality of the situation didn’t make it any less awkward for Hermione to be finding out that he had begun dating again. 

After a few moments of awkward silence Hermione said, “well I should go and check on Crookshanks, make sure he’s eaten his dinner instead of dumping it all over my kitchen floor like last time. I’ll see you tomorrow, Harry!” 

Hermione removed herself from the fireplace with enough speed that she’d barely heard Harry’s farewell before she was back in her own living room. She got up and dusted herself off before retiring to her overstuffed couch with a hot cup of tea and a good book. This was Hermione’s preferred way to spend her evenings, and if she was to be socializing tomorrow, she’d need a reserve of energy that only an evening spent like this could do. She sat on her couch for the next several hours, reading her book as her eyelids became heavier and heavier. Eventually sleep overcame Hermione’s will to continue reading and the book that had laid in her lap slid to the couch beneath her, as was the custom on most nights. 

_________________________________________________

The day of Theo’s birthday passed by much faster than Hermione had expected. Almost as soon as she’d sat down at her desk, it had flooded with reports that needed filling out. Most of the senior members of her department sent their paperwork to Hermione. While it wasn’t abnormal for a senior member to send paperwork to one of the entry level employees every once in a while, Hermione certainly received that kind of work more frequently than others. In her first few months at the Ministry over a year ago, she’d been so enthusiastic to help in any way she could and to prove herself that she’d accidentally created the reputation for being the go-to paperwork girl. She suspected, privately, that Theo and the other two entry level workers were equally capable as she was in filling out reports but that they’d intentionally sabotaged that work in order to receive less of it. Though Theo, being a Slytherin, would never openly admit to doing such a thing, he had hinted at it rather heavy handedly.

By the end of the day Hermione was sporting several parchment cuts on her hands and was more than in need of a glass of Ogden’s Old firewhiskey from the Leaky Cauldron. Theo came to collect her, and they made their way to the Ministry’s atrium where they met Harry and Ron. 

“Potter, Weasley.” Theo greeted his old school rivals with a pleasant nod in their direction. 

“Nott.” They greeted in unison before turning to Hermione. Hermione embraced Harry, then Ron, greeting her friends enthusiastically. 

“Oh, I’ve missed you both!” She exclaimed. 

“We missed you too, ‘Mione!” Ron responded with his lopsided and goofy smile.

The foursome made their way out of the Ministry. The exit from the Ministry that lead out into Diagon Alley landed them about 200 meters from the Leaky Cauldron.

The winding streets of Diagon Alley weren’t too busy, Hermione noticed. This was likely due to it being a Wednesday evening. Most of the shops had closed, and witches and wizards didn’t tend to crowd the pubs and restaurants until the weekend came. 

Hermione was secretly glad for the lack of people. Even though it had been over a year since the Battle, she, Ron, and Harry were still decently famous. When the three of them were seen out together it wasn’t uncommon for them to draw quite a few stares. The unwanted attention didn’t seem to phase Ron much; he even enjoyed it on occasion. But she and Harry had always been uncomfortable in the spotlight. 

As they made their way to the Leaky Cauldron, they chatted amicably about Harry and Ron’s latest Auror mission, the previous weekend’s Puddlemore United versus Chudley Canons quidditch match, and the upcoming vote on Hermione’s house elf bill. 

When the group arrived at the pub, they made their way to the private parlor that was behind the bar. The private parlor was beautiful, Hermione noticed. The walls were made of deep chestnut wooden paneling, and the windows that looked out onto Diagon Alley were adorned in a deep wine colored velvet curtain. There was a large booth on one side of the room, big enough to fit at least a dozen people. The room also had several high-top tables for smaller groups to stand around. 

Three of Theo’s friends were already there, circled around one of the high tops. Hermione recognized Blaise Zabini and Daphne Greengreass instantly. She saw the pair semi regularly due to their friendship with Theo. Blaize was tall and lean with dark skin and dark eyes. He was, Hermione believed, the definition of the muggle “tall dark and handsome” romance trope. Daphne was at his side. She was also fairly tall, especially for a witch. She was at least 3 inches taller than Hermione’s 5’4” frame. Daphne had dark brown hair and deep blue eyes. 

Hermione also recognized the third person there. She was a short, slight witch with pale red hair and fair skin. Hermione knew she had been a Slytherin in Theo’s year, but couldn’t put a name to her face. 

As if he sensed Hermione’s thoughts, Theo took Hermione’s arm gently to guide her to the unknown witch and introduce them. 

“Hermione, I’m not sure you’ve met Tracey Davis. She was in our year at Hogwarts.” 

“Hello,” Tracey greeted Hermione amicably, reaching her hand out. 

They shook hands and Hermione responded, “Hello Tracey, it’s nice to formally meet you.” 

“Likewise,” Tracey directed at Hermione with a small smile, then turned her attention to Theo, “Happy birthday, Theo. It was a good idea to have this little gathering. It’s been a while since we’ve been able to see one another.” 

“Thanks, Trace, it’s nice to see you too. How’s the family?” 

Theo and Tracey continued to talk about the Davis family and Hermione made her way back to Harry and Ron who had taken up residence at one of the nearby high-tops. 

“Here ya go, ‘Mione.” Ron pressed a glass of firewhiskey into Hermione’s hands. 

“So, Harry, how are you and Ginny doing?” Hermione asked before she took a big sip of her drink. 

“Pretty good. It’s been a bit hard, with her quidditch training taking so much of her time—and of course I work a lot too—but we’re making it work.” 

“makingitworkalittletoowellifyouaskme.” Ron mumbled almost unintelligibly into his drink. 

“Erm—did I miss something?” Hermione looked curiously between her two best friends. 

Harry blushed a slight pink. “Um, yes, well since Ron and I have been living together and Ginny usually stays at Grimmauld Place on the weekends when she gets back from training, Ron has walked in on a few things…” Harry trailed off, too embarrassed to further enlighten Hermione on the types of things Ron had seen, but she had a good idea. 

Eyes wide, Hermione responded, “oh, wow, well, yes that would be, erm, uncomfortable.” Hermione was beginning to get uncomfortable just talking about this, she couldn’t imagine how Ron had reacted. 

“Yes, but we’re adults now—we’re trying to handle it maturely.” Harry assured Hermione. 

“Easy for you to say!” Ron sputtered at his floppy haired friend, “You’re not the one who had to see your sister getting groped by your best friend!” 

“Oooo, groping? Sounds like my kind of night!” Theo had chosen this moment to make his way over to the trio’s conversation. He sent a salacious wink Hermione’s way and handed her a second firewhiskey. 

“THERE WILL BE NO MORE GROPING!” Ron’s yelled. His face was beet red and his blue eyes were slightly wild. Ron added quieter, but still forcefully, “I need another drink.” And stalked off to the bar. 

“O-KAY. What’s Weasley got against groping?” 

Hermione laughed, “It’s not groping generally; it’s when Harry does the groping.” 

“Oh, well can’t say I blame the bloke. I wouldn’t like it if Potter groped me either—no offense, Potter.” Theo feigned seriousness and nodded at Harry. 

Hermione laughed harder, spilling her drink a bit. 

“NO!” Harry almost yelled, “I mean, no. It’s his sister I’m groping—Ginny—my girlfriend.” He took a big gulp of firewhiskey.

“No need to hide who you really are, Potter. You saved the wizarding world; I don’t think anyone would begrudge you a little sexual curiosity.” Theo teased. “Besides, I can’t say anyone would be that surprised. You and Weasley have always been rather close.”

“What—no—I—what?!” Harry sputtered. 

“Oh Harry, he’s teasing you,” Hermione patted her friend on the shoulder reassuringly. “It’s what Theo does best.” She smiled at Theo. 

“So, Theo, are we expecting anyone else tonight?” Harry asked, clearly trying to change the subject. 

“Yes, actually, I invited a couple of our other classmates—” 

“OH MY GOD!” Daphne yelled from the other high-top where she’d been conversing with Blaise and Tracey. 

“Jesus, Daph, what?” Blaise said, rubbing his right ear. He’d been standing quite close to Daphne. 

“It’s snowing.” Daphne almost whispered. She pointed to the windows in the parlor room that looked out onto Diagon Alley’s cobblestone street. 

‘What—in November? In London?” Tracey questioned. 

Hermione walked over to the window to see the snow for herself. She’d always loved snow. When she’d been a little girl snow had always felt like the closest thing to magic there was. Even after she’d received her Hogwarts letter and found out she was a witch snow still held a special place in her heart. 

She watched as the flurries floated down and filled the cracks in the cobblestones. The normally uneven edges of the cobblestone were becoming dusted with the flurries of snow. As Hermione inspected the snow filling the cracks in the cobblestone, a pair of shiny black loafers stepped directly onto the stones she’d just been looking at. She trailed her eyes up the body of the Wizard wearing the loafers. He wore a thick, clean-lined, black cloak. It looked expensive. 

Hermione’s cinnamon eyes met slate grey for the first time in over a year. Her breath hitched in her throat as she recognized one of the last people she'd expected to see that night. 

Draco Malfoy stood in the center of Diagon Alley, snowflakes dancing around him.


End file.
